SAN ANTONIO – Don Chaney has urged his players to stay together during these trying times, otherwise they’ll have no hope of getting out of what he termed “a storm.”

Chaney also said he didn’t think “selfish” was the correct word to describe the club as Mark Jackson did following Saturday’s Celtics’ loss. He believes Jackson was referring to guys not moving the ball around like they should be late in games.

“It’s very easy to stay together when you win and have a good friendship and bond when you’re winning,” Chaney said before the Knicks faced San Antonio last night. “That’s easy. The true test is when you’re losing; adversity sets in, all kinds of controversy. You’ve got to be strong as a team. You’ve got to weather the storm. We’re in a storm right now. We don’t need to fragment. We need to stay together and become more of a team.”

Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby feel they’re not getting enough touches down the stretch, that the game plan is too heavily focused on getting the ball to Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell late. Thomas may feel Sprewell doesn’t trust him enough, judging by Sprewell’s slew of comments that they need a low-post scorer. Meanwhile, some players believe Camby and others aren’t helping on defense in rotation.

“When you fail to see an open guy, you get critical,” Chaney said. “I don’t think we’re selfish at all. We as a team have to trust each other offensively and defensively. Guys are open, he gets the ball. But late in games, you want to make sure scorers have extra opportunity to score and those guys get an extra look. We have to do a better job looking for our teammates.

Golden State reserve center Marc Jackson, eligible to be traded Jan. 19, reportedly would veto any deal other than to three unidentified teams. The Knicks, who pursued Jackson as a free agent over the summer, are not believed to be on his wish list.

Scott Layden on potential trades: “We’re always looking to improve the team if we can. We’re always pushing to improve the team, but I’m not saying we don’t like the team we have or have confidence in our team.”